Local company creating map for debate monument

May 23, 2008

By Edward Husar

A big part of the enhancement project being planned for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate site in Washington Park is taking shape in a work room at Awerkamp Machine Co., 237 N. Seventh.

Workers are fashioning a 12-foot-wide, 8-foot-high brass outline of the United States that will be fitted inside a 15-foot-diameter circle and installed just east of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate monument.

It will be used to illustrate the 32 states that were in the Union when the debates took place in 1858.

Bill Awerkamp, president of the company, said work started on the map project a couple of weeks ago and is just about complete.

Two of Awerkamp's welder-fabricators, Ed Duesterhaus and Randy Huber, did most of the work, which involved heating and bending half-inch-wide strips of brass into the shape of the U.S. This alone took about 120 hours, Awerkamp said.

The finishing touch will involve attaching 32 stars to the rim of the 15-foot metal circle.

The entire framework will then be dismantled and transported in pieces to Washington Park, where it will be rebuilt and placed atop a concrete pad. Once bolted into place, the framework will serve as a form for pouring several different shades of concrete that will help make the map come to life and give it permanence.

"I think it's pretty neat," said Awerkamp, who was hired as a subcontractor for this one aspect of the renovations.

Plans call for creating a memorial plaza around the Lorado Taft monument, which was installed in 1936 to commemorate the sixth of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas while they campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 1858.

In addition to the large map of the U.S., two elongated, 28-inch-high limestone walls will be erected on the plaza -- one north and one south of the monument. Built into the tops of the walls will be six sloping granite tablets, each containing notable quotations from Lincoln and Douglas on selected topics from the debate.

Benches will be situated the near the walls, and two large informational pedestals will be placed near the Fifth Street sidewalk providing historical insights about the debate.

All of this work is expected to be completed by October when a dedication ceremony is held in conjunction with a sesquicentennial celebration.

The plaza renovations were originally estimated to cost about $300,000. However, bids came in significantly below expectations. Niemann Construction won the contract with a bid of $153,000.

Quincy's Lincoln Bicentennial Commission is footing the bill for the enhancements through a major fund-raising campaign.